Method of proportioning vitamin carrying mediums in food products



Feb. 19, 1946. A. c. RICHARDSON METHOD OF PROPORTIONING VITAMIN CARRYING MEDIUM IN A FOOD PRODUCT Filed Oct. 27. 1942 his - tity' o f carrier, 'or" oil;

Patented Feb. 19, 1946 UNITED STATES P T T-creme;

; METHOD OF PROPORTIONING VITAMIN,

CARRYING MEDIUMS IN 'FOOD mon- UCTS Alan 0. Richardson, Berkeley, Calif., assignor to California Packing Corporation, San Francisco, Calif., a. corporation of New York Applicationoctober 27, 1942, Serial No. 463,550

7 Claims. (CI. 99-11) This invention relates to the method and apparatus for proportioning a vitamin carrying medium in a, food product, and is more particularly directed to the-provision of a method and apparatus for distributing vitamin carrying oils of comparatively high concentration in a food product such as a feed for fowl, cattle, horses or the like to insure uniform distribution-of the vitamins of such oil throughout thejfeed or fodder. Inthe fortifying of feeds or fodder for. fowl, cattle, horses or the like, particularly with such vitamins as vitaminD and vitamin A, ithas been it is believed will be apparent from the hereinafter contained description of the preferred embodiment thereof as the same is diagrammatically illustrated in the accompanying drawing.

In this application describing my invention 7 as particularly adapted to the dispersion of high the practice to fortify such feeds using-aimixture of, relatively low vitamin concentration which enables the, vitamin to, be dispersed through the feed. in the relatively-large ,qu n- When usingfailarge volumefof "carrier, vitamins may be eas ly dispersed through the feed by a p a xii s er t ve bi e' s -lowsn nw t a ib 'o c t i i e l e; qua foil 1 mits b ii' ini 'go w st e d stributi n.-

Th 4 O i i f a ei u'a i s-pi i 110We :-:-i ass gnments tbihei??? hat mael t o- O ls-S h tih yhai my use ainba merel iten l w qd-a s ,a raratus q ;tn umiorm Y ah hlwp nt ate. i eml ear;- Q QQQI QW es prn sideri n obiecto h winve ti nn :t P L f i ia alyteisners ea heihig i n t mlngm jd a throws- .1.; s d;o l d o ptqd stlw ichim l de i'form n em orar emu sion w thl idimari water, to obtain-a runiform dispersion yof the high x;

medi m t rou h thei a e :sctha unii eif gd s rsion 0f e r t mm n t e ee orfood his-mafia i mmvfiie i when ieqt br.

includes the steps 1 of, forming and dispersing-11a ,temporary emulsio throughout 1 moving food 9th.???fiblctandad antaseslotthis-intentionI,

, s pfiha dl ii'se vhigh T- o ncr vitamin-A ,o Dm dium or vitaminAandD,medimn-;which if tifns m s s anksi, adiustablei a ,iMhi i -t. b in 1 h icrankei s towa d o potency vitamin m'edia through feed or fodder with particular reference to the feed for animals and fowl, it is to be understood that my invention is not limited to this use, but is capable. of use for the dispersion of vitamins throughout any typeof product or food where, in the ultimate product, it is desired to have uniform distribution of smallvolumes of vitamins or other nutrients in large -volume s of food products. a 1 u i I In T accordance with the method embodying 'myinventionjI utilizea devicefor properly proort o in he mixt re j heviiamin and its o ,,or othercarrier which may include an emulsifyinglagent with afdispersing agent such as,;water.

,- .-'l b qna qpi ense. .n beat a ,s it- Qua-91, 1 or n tru n d in i l i etsdi-rm r be du e n o o t o n um in wh cha m te:- .,th oueha pa svi drivas afi 2 co n ct ,0 adjustable crank discs; 3 and-- 4 ods alnq .Mfa ai f re ipronl Th v en c y loaf t anner wellunderstood emean t e ha t: lat ne, rior nor onin th mixin accomp is e ,Marthe-1Pum s1 and-1:

twi ge:dis nereeimou n' theinnump nnsji .;a .u fln to as..c mniqnimme se-Prime al the imam-mime o f i nfih carrirl- For examplestlie t i tu e: am r con a n-u a sof180 to;9a%ewate ra difrom..2 tel-2.01%: vita inw de 0 dependentiupon t e. desreeyor; co ce t ation of vitam n'in :itS, carrieric Thus in ithe case of :the

- ,:naturalg'-vitamin Dioils which are derived;as, -for v example, fromgtunaz livers extracted with oil, -the :-fi-I a :0 l1maYr.be a ZOOOtunityitamin; D; oiL; The .said oil may be mixedtwith, 80%; ofv water to'form an emulsion, having;a400 unit vitamin Dconcen- .c tration which corresponds ,with the concentration commonly r employed in; fortifying feeds.

Heretofore, in order to obtain the necessary dilu- Qtionwor reduction of concentration, it ",has'been '.,the-,-practice-insthis art to addaiflsh or fishrlivter 1 oil; such: asrsardineoilor codliveroil, '9.S.8;dilll8l1t. As?- example z of ta more; highly concentrated ::v1tamin -:D,-.:oil "is'a-that: of a -:10,000 "unit-grade resSiJItmE-"hOm'LI the 1 extraction -ofso'me fish livers with a smaller quantity of oil. Such an oil may be emulsified with 96% water or may be proportioned with 96% water through the use of the duple'nproportioning pump to. yield a 400unit mixture. If it is desired to reduce the concentration to that equivalent to the vitamin D concentration of cod-liver oil, i. e., 85 units per gram of cod-liver oil using the 10,000 unit vitamin ,D

concentration of fish livers extracted with oil, it will be apparent that the proportioning device may be setso as to employ water in the ratio of 10,000 parts of mixture of water to 85 parts of such fish liver oil.

In a continuous mixing process, to obtain a proper mixing or distribution of such vitamin and its carrier, I prefer to pass the mixture from 3 which pump leads into a conduit I9. The conduit- 18 extends to a needle valve 20 the discharge from which is connected through the conduit 2| to an atomizing or spray discharge orifice 22-.

'I'hespray nozzle 22 is located in the feed mixer 23, which mixer 23 may be of any of the common types used for mixing feed or foods.

[The conduit l9 also has a return branch 21 which leads through a pressure control valve 28 back into the intake conduit l3 of the tank 15.

,Thus'the centrifugal pump 18 continuously withdraws the mixture of vitamin and its carrier and water from the tank l5 and causes the same to recirculate into and from the tank to maintain a uniform homogeneous mixture. As the mixture of vitamin and its carrier and water are fed'into the tank IS, the rate of withdrawal from the tank to the spray orifice 22 is determined by the rate of input of the proportioning j pump and the corresponding adjustment of the for example, adding to the oil or water a small percentage of emulsifying or wetting agent such as Aersol. The use of a wetting agent is also advantageously employed as it increases the rate of absorption and adsorption of the emulsion by the relatively dry feed, thus bringing the vitamin into rapid contact with the protective substances normally present in cereal mixtures.

It will be apparent that the cost of.dispersing the vitamin through a food product in accordance with my invention is reduced practically in proportion to the amount .of water employed because the water is of negligible cost whereas the fish oils which have heretofore been employed for this purpose have cost if to 9 cents per pound.

The advantages of this invention are not in any way dependent upon the permanency of the emulsion formed -as it is kept agitated until impinged on the feed. It is easy to form a temporary emulsion through which the phases are uniformly distributed but it has been found extremely difiicult to form a stable emulsion of water and a fish oil containing the vitamins A and D which is not destructive to such vitamins if stored.

In order to advise the operator of any interruption of the supply of temporary emulsion due to failure of the circulating system to continuously v supply the temporary emulsion to the nozzle 2 needle valve 20 to maintain a fixed volume of mixture in the tank l5. Thus the mixture is at all times under substantially constant pressure and at all times under continuous mixing circulation, Just that amount being withdrawn as is required to mix with the feed.

In mixing feeds it is often desirable to also mix in the feed certain other constituents in small proportion. For example, it is often desired to mix riboflavin concentrates into the feed, the usual proportion being of a few grams per ton of feed. This may easily be accomplished through the mixing and dispersing medium of my invention by dissolving or dispersing such soluble ingredients in the water before it is introduced into the water pump I. As the water provides the medium for performing the uniform distribution of the very minute quantities of vitamin throughout the feed, it will also provide the medium'for obtaining a uniform dispersion of the relatively small quantities of such other constituents as are desired or required in the feed.

In order to protect certain of the vitamins from deterioration or destruction when dispersed in a large volume of water, I may employ either an inert gas in the tank I! or may add to the oil or the water a chemical agent suitable to protect the vitamin from oxidation. In the case of the to be sprayed into the feed, I provide a pressure alarm system diagrammatically indicated at 30 and connected in the electric circuit with the motor I. In the event the circulation system failsto function properly or the nozzle 22 becomes clogged, the pressure will increase in the tank l5 operating to close the switch 32 which is operatively connected through the relay 33 to interrupt the current supply to the motor I and at the same time to ring an alarm or bell.

Having fully described my invention, it is to be understood that I do not wish to be limited to the details herein set forth, but my invention is of the full scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A method of proportioning a vitamin oil in a food product which comprises a mixture of ingredients including at least one granular constituent which includes the steps of continuously proportioning a small volume of a vitamin oil in a large volume of a mixture liquid consisting primarily of water, dispersing the vitamin oil tion of the continuously circulated and emulsified mixture, and spraying the emulsion into a continuously moving food product.

3. A method of proportioning a vitamin oil in a food product, which comprises a mixture of ingredients including at least one dry granular constituent which includes the steps of continuously proportionlng a small quantity of vitamin oil into a large volume of water, forming a temporary emulsion of the vitamin oil in the water under pressure, and spraying the temporary emulsion into the said dry granular constituent, and then mixing the food product with the vitamin carrying emulsion.

4. In a method of proportioning a vitamin oil in a granular food product. which comprises continuously proportioning the vitamin oil in water, homogenizing the mixture 01' water and vitamin oil, continuously recirculating the mixture to maintain a temporaryemulsion, and continuously withdrawing a portion of the temporary emulsion and spraying the same into the food product.

5. A method of dispersing vitamin D oil-bearing medium of high unit concentration in a granular food product which includes the steps or introducing said carrier oil into water, forming a temporary emulsion of the oil in the water to reduce the vitamin potency per unit of emulsion. and then continuously spraying the emulsion into the food product as the food product is moved under the spray.

6. A method of dispersing vitamin D uniformly in a granular food product, which comprises mixing ahigh content vitamin oil in water to form an emulsion, and then continuously spraying the emulsion into the food product, whereby any possibility oi the emulsion to separate prior to dispersion in thetood product is avoided.

7. In a process of dispersing vitamin D in a carrier in a granular food product, which comprises continuously moving the iood product. continuously mixing a high vitamin content oil with water, forming a temporary emulsion oi the vitamin carrying oil in the water to reduce the unit concentration of the vitamin D in the temporary emulsion, and then spraying the emul sion into the continuously moving food product.

. ALAN C. RI !HARDSON. 

